An American imprisoned for nearly a month in the United Arab Emirates for taking photos has been released from custody and returning home to Georgia , a family spokeswoman said .

Robert Alan Black -- who 'd been in the UAE to speak at an international creativity conference -- had been held in Abu Dhabi 's Al Wathba prison since October 21 after being `` charged with taking pictures of restricted areas , '' said Rosemary Rein , the spokeswoman for Friends of Alan Black .

A former architect , Black often takes photos of buildings , according to Rein . Doing so is prohibited in some parts of the UAE , particularly in and around government buildings , embassies , military facilities and other places that are considered sensitive .

He made a brief court appearance Monday , and was released the following day .

`` The court found that the action was committed with no ill-intention , and ordered the minimum fine of 500 -LRB- UAE dirhams or about US $ 135 -RRB- , '' according to Rein 's statement , which was posted to a `` Free Robert Alan Black '' Facebook page .

After his release , the 70-year-old headed to his home in Athens , Georgia .

`` We 're relieved and happy with this news , '' Rein said . `` The international creativity community was concerned about our dear friend and colleague , and we 're glad the matter has been resolved . ''

Black characterizes himself as an architect , cartoonist , graphic designer , professor and creativity consultant on his website . He has given presentations at more more than 150 creativity conferences on six continents since 1978 , and has written more than 600 articles and a book , `` Broken Crayons : Break Your Crayons and Draw Outside the Lines . ''

Rein has said Black 's next stop , after the Abu Dhabi conference , was supposed to be Malaysia . But after noticing he had n't posted to social media , she touched base with mutual acquaintances and learned that he 'd never made it to Malaysia .

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`` We 're relieved and happy with this news , '' family spokeswoman says

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Family : Robert Alan Black was `` charged with taking pictures of restricted areas ''

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A court frees him after finding he had `` no ill-intention , '' says a spokeswoman

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The creativity consultant had been in the United Arab Emirates for a conference